I've told you we aren't paying enough attention to malware

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rmslade () shaw ca>]

I find this extremely bizarre:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/

Yes, I know it's military.  I know that there are specs and you can't just go down 
to the nearest hole-in-the-wall computer store and replace the infected machines.  
Yes, I know that you can't allow competent people like me to help out, since I'm 
an alien, and therefore not to be trusted.

(Had an experience of that in the early days.  Bank took a lot of trouble to track 
me down.  Described what they were seeing.  This was back in the days when you 
could know every single virus, so I told them, yes, it certainly sounded like a virus, 
but not one known, so I'd have to come in to help ouut.  They told me I couldn't 
come in, since that would violate their security policy.)

But, please.  You're telling me that the Pentagon can't clear off all it's machines 
after three years?  You're telling me that a million dollar drone, with spares for all 
kinds of things, doesn't come with a spare hard drive?  Or even a spare computer?  
(Of course there are going to be pieces of malware that survive a software 
cleaning.)  We're not even talking about specialized computers: if Kaspersky 
cleans it off, it's a Windows machine (or, less likely, a Mac).

We definitely need to get more anti-malware expertise out there.

(It is, of course, more than barely possible that the story was written by some 
reporter who knows nothing about the situation ...)

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
In six years G. W. Bush and Texas executed 131 prisoners, of whom
43 had defence attorneys sanctioned for misconduct at some point
40 involved the defence presenting no evidence or one witness
29 included psychiatric testimony deemed unethical/untrustworthy
23 included jailhouse informants, and
3 in which the defence lawyers slept during the trial.
                                  - Maclean's, March 19, 2001, p. 56
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://www.infosecbc.org/links
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
http://twitter.com/rslade
_______________________________________________
Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.